1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a method for controlling a TV receiver by an information processing apparatus, more particularly, relates to an information processing apparatus for displaying an image on a TV receiver connected thereto as well as to a method for controlling a TV receiver by an information processing apparatus in which the information processing apparatus and the TV receiver are connected to each other and the image quality etc. of the TV receiver are controlled.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, many information processing apparatus such as personal computers enable viewing of an image such as a movie image on their display screen by reproducing a recording medium such as a DVD. Furthermore, equipped with external connection terminals for video and audio data, such information processing apparatus enable display of an image on an external, large display device such as one that is part of a TV receiver.
When a user views an image that is displayed on a display device, the user sometimes adjusts the image quality according to his or her tastes. For example, a TV receiver is equipped with manipulation portions such as controls for adjustment of image quality characteristics such as the brightness, contrast, hue, color density, and resolution and a user adjusts the image quality according to his or her tastes by manipulating the manipulation portions. The user can also make image quality adjustments by using a remote controller.
However, in general, image quality adjustments of a TV receiver are very complicated. The controls for image quality adjustments are in many cases distributed at plural locations. To make image adjustments with the remote controller, it is necessary to perform plural manipulations using menu pictures etc.
It is disclosed by, for example, JP-A-2000-138870 that a technique for reducing the above-mentioned complexity of image quality adjustments is made when a TV receiver is connected to an information processing apparatus. More specifically, the image quality characteristics such as the brightness, contrast, hue, color density, and resolution are adjusted in advance on the display screen of the information processing apparatus. Individual image adjustment parameters that have been set by the image quality adjustments are sent to the TV receiver via an IEEE 1394 serial communication bus and stored in a memory of the TV receiver.
However, digital TV receivers capable of receiving a high-quality image of ground-wave digital broadcast, satellite digital broadcast, or the like and displaying it on a large display device at high resolution are now spreading widely.
Digital TV receivers of this kind are much higher in multifunctionality than related-art analog TV receivers. These digital TV receivers not only receive and display an image but also realize various functions of an information apparatus having a large display device when connected to the Internet or an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer.
In terms of image quality adjustments, they have been sophisticated and advanced in multifunctionality; for example, a function that enables selection of an image quality mode that is suitable for the brightness of a room and a kind of illumination has been added.
A wide variety of external video terminals have come to be employed. For example, digital TV receivers have spread that are equipped with, in addition to the most conventional composite terminal (usually called a pin terminal), analog video signal terminals such as a separate terminal (usually called an S terminal), component terminals to which three cables are to be connected, and a D terminal and an HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) terminal for a digital video signal.
In the above circumstances, a use form is increasingly employed in which a digital TV receiver is connected to an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and an image of the information processing apparatus is displayed on the display device (hereinafter referred to as “TV display”) of the digital TV receiver rather than the display device (hereinafter referred to as “PC display”) of the information processing apparatus or on both of the PC display and the TV display.
In this use form (hereinafter may be referred to as “PC-TV link form”), the main subject of manipulation of a user is the information processing apparatus and the digital TV receiver is mainly intended to merely monitor an image of the information processing apparatus. The number of manipulations to be performed on the digital TV receiver should be as small as possible.
However, at present, the functions provided in the digital TV receiver are set or adjusted only by manipulating the digital TV receiver. That is, where an image generated by the information processing apparatus is displayed on the TV display, image quality adjustments on the TV display need to be performed by using the remote controller or the like of the digital TV receiver. A manipulation of selecting the video terminal that is currently connected to the information processing apparatus from the plural video terminals of the digital TV receiver needs to be performed independently on the digital TV receiver.
As described above, although the levels of the functions and the performance of digital TV receivers themselves and information processing apparatus themselves have been increased, there is room for further improvements in operability and optimization of functions in the PC-TV link form.